Pet Anxiety on July 4th: Having Natural Calming Tools That Work

* Paying homage to my darling departed boy, Albie. This was taken on July 4, 2017

 

Celebrating our country on the Fourth of July is a joyous occasion for many, but for many of our pets, it’s not so much. Noise sensitivity is common, and the decibel levels and unexpected noise of fireworks is a big trigger. Pet anxiety on July 4^th = Stress.  One of our jobs as pet parents is to reduce our pets’ stress as much as we can, so they can live their best life.

Calming pets during fireworks in a natural and compassionate way is the goal, so let’s explore some effective do-no-harm strategies to give you a tool kit that works.

The Basics:

 

Stay at home with them: Leaving an animal home alone during fireworks is not a good idea in general, especially if they’re anxious. Dogs have been known to hurt themselves when they are frantic and in the red zone. If you can’t be home, get a neighbor or friend to come by or a pet sitter to be with them.

Create a Safe Space: It could be a small area, a crate if your dog feels safe in their crate, a special room in the house. It is bio-individual to your animal. Once you’ve identified the space, set it up for engagement and calm. Maybe you’ll give them a treat puzzle to work on; maybe a raw meaty bone to chew, maybe a special toy or blanket they love. Mental stimulation is a great way to distract and engage your dog and the side benefit is it’s a brain enhancer. Whatever their loves, create that special spot. I love Raw Paws Pet Food for raw meaty bones because they responsibly source their food so it never has antibiotics, hormones, pesticides or herbicides and the animals are pasture-raised. Another farm I just found which sounds great is called White Oak Pastures out of Georgia. They sell for humans which you can also use for pets, including raw meaty bones.

Make sure the bones you choose are not too small for the size of your dog’s mouth/throat, so as not to be a choking hazard. Dogs or cats chewing raw meaty bones should always be supervised, same reason. And, steer clear of weight-bearing bones like femur bones, as they are too hard and can break teeth.

Exercise: Do your best to give them age and breed appropriate exercise earlier in the day, well prior to the fireworks getting going. Tire them out. In a study published in 2012, it was found that dogs, like humans, experience peak endocannabinoid and endorphin release activity following moderate-intensity exercise. An exercised dog can experience somewhat of what human’s experience in a “runner’s high.”  Engage your pet in appropriate exercise and mental stimulation like taking them for a long walk or run, or playing their favorite game of fetch to help burn off excess energy.

Soothing Music for Pets or White Noise: This is a great addition to your tool kit. I like Janet Marlow’s Pet Acoustics. She has put 20+ years of scientific research into what specific frequencies calm dogs and cats and curated those separately for each in her Pet Tunes products. My dogs respond well to this.

The Natural Options:

 

There are many natural remedies for pet anxiety at our disposal. I’m going to focus on three here.

Homeopathy

 

Homeopathy is a more than 250-year-old energy medicine, created by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann.  It focuses on what symptoms that individual person or animal is expressing and how they are expressing them. Every person and animal has their own unique way of how they present with symptoms, and it is the job of the homeopath or the pet parent, if practicing acute homeopathy at home, to be observant and see what the specific symptoms are. If the energy of the remedy matches the energy of the symptoms being expressed closely enough, it can overpower the energy of those symptoms in the body and make them disappear. It sounds a bit crazy and woo woo, and to me, having used homeopathy for 35 years for my family and in my practice, I’ve seen incredible recoveries from using the correct remedy. I know it works.

With any remedy, if after 4 or so doses, you don’t see any improvement, try another remedy.

Start giving the remedy 30 minutes to one hour before fireworks begin.

Here is a short list of some symptoms you may recognize in your dog or cat, that could indicate this remedy:

• Aconite: These pets will be over-anxious and over-sensitive to noise and are easily startled. They can become extremely distressed and panic-stricken and feel very vulnerable. This is a great remedy for when their emotions are very intense and are brought on suddenly.
• Arsenicum: This is a great remedy for those pets where they are very anxious, fearful and insecure. These pets can’t be left on their own as this is very frightening for them. They are quick to panic and need to be reassured. These are the pets that are going to demand attention, but this does nothing to reduce their insecurities.
• Phosphorus: This remedy is good for all noise phobias. These are the pets that are going to be very restless, nervous and fearful. They tend to be sensitive to sudden noises and easily startle and may be fearful of being touched. This remedy is good for all noise phobias. It can be given once or twice a day.
• Borax 6C– This remedy is specific for fears of thunderstorms, sensitivity to noise, and being easily startled with marked irritability. It can be given twice a day.
• Gelsemium – Great remedy for fireworks, when we see marked trembling especially from a fright. They can be timid, express terror, scared after a fright, and fears.
• Argentum Nitricum – Is a great remedy when the nervous systemsare affected especially with anxiety and a range of fears!
• Aurum Metallicaum 30c – may also be given once or twice a day to combat most noise sensitivities.
• Rescue remedy – This is a wonderful remedy as an in-between to help settle anxiousness and restlessness, can be easily sprayed into the water bowl.

You can purchase any of these remedies on Amazon.

Want to learn more about homeopathy for acute conditions? Reach out to me to book a free consult.

Essential Oils

 

Essential oils to calm pet anxiety are such useful tools, and we have to respect them as they have active ingredients. The first suggestion is to start now. Don’t wait until you really need then to find out which work and don’t for your animal.

Letting a dog sniff the closed bottle of an essential oil and observing their reaction is a good way to tell if that oil is right for them. Dogs will generally gravitate to oils they need and may linger sniffing, roll around near the bottle in a happy way or want to be near the smell. If the animal turns or rolls away, rubs its nose on the carpet or gives any sign it is trying to get away from the scent, it is not the right oil for them.

The other important aspect to using essential oils is they are not all crafted alike. You would want to find a high-quality essential oil brand. I like doTerra because they source very consciously and are very careful about the farmers they work with.

Some of the doTerra blends I like that calm include:

* Balance

* Peace

* Console

* Roman Chamomile

* Serenity

Also, single oils like:

* Vetiver

* Lavender

* Marjoram

* Frankincense

* Sandalwood

You can try any of these that your dog gravitates towards aromatically leading up to the events, and apply 1-2 drops topically over the chest, back of the neck, and the throat. Make sure that any essential oil you apply topically is already diluted in a carrier oil. If not, you’ll need to dilute it.

Some good carrier oils include:

• Sweet almond
• Sesame
• Jojoba
• Rosehip
• Avocado

You can diffuse the appropriate essential oil, making sure you dog or cat has an open door into another room if they’ve had enough. Diffusing is great to do before fireworks begin, during then and after. You can also sprinkle 2-3 drops onto a toy that your dog can carry into its “safe space” or keep close by, so it can access the aromatic therapy more or less, as required. This is good to do before and during.

I find using essential oils in my practice and with my own dogs to be very helpful.

To learn more about how to give essential oils to your pet, I love Dr. Janet Roark’s site, The Essential Oil Vet. She’s teaching me all about essential oils and is an expert, and a vet, too! And, if you’re interested, she can teach you, too.

 

Frequency Scanning & Optimizing

 

When our animals get frightened and anxious, certain of their frequencies go out of balance. A Nikola Tesla invention from the 1940’s called a frequency scanner, is a very helpful tool to determine those frequencies out of balance and then to optimize then back into balance. This helps the animal feel better, physically and emotionally.

With the Solex AO Scanner, you can create a custom playlist of frequencies having to do with a specific condition, emotional state, or desired state and run that playlist of frequencies in the background before, during and after the fireworks to help your dog or cat stay more balanced. This is a great tool in addition to using essential oils and/or homeopathy; there is even the option to use homeopathy through the scanner. A big breakthrough in putting healthy our bodies and spirits and those of our animals back into our own hands and the future of medicine.

I hope this has given you some ideas and options to address pet anxiety around the July 4^th holiday. Adding patience, love and kindness to this mix creates an unstoppably powerful natural healing force.

Wishing you and your pets a safe, calm and wonderful holiday. 🇺🇸